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Affiliation
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2 Affiliated Wuhan Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms (depression thereafter) and to identify the sociodemographic and clinical correlates of depression in a sample of elderly patients treated in the primary care setting in Wuhan, China.
BACKGROUND: Primary care is an opportune setting for the management of late-life depression in China, but there have been no representative studies on the clinical epidemiology of depression in elderly Chinese primary care patients.
METHODS: In total, 752 elderly patients (≥ 65 years) were consecutively recruited from 13 primary care centers in Wuhan, China, and interviewed with a standardized questionnaire. Depression was assessed with the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15).
RESULTS: Of the elderly Chinese primary care patients, 30.6% had depression (GDS-15 ≥ 5). Correlates of depression were an education level of primary school or less (odds ratio [OR]: 1.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.36-2.77, P <.001), poor financial status (OR: 2.19, 95% CI: 1.16-4.15, P =.016), lack of an exercise habit (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.06-1.74, P =.023), 2 or more chronic medical conditions (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.34-2.69, P <.001), and loneliness (OR: 3.53, 95% CI: 2.46-5.08, P <.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Depression is prevalent among elderly Chinese primary care patients, indicating that elderly patients treated in primary care have a high level of need for mental health services in China. There is an urgent need to integrate mental health services into primary health care.
Language: en |